HollywoodMX
Coast to Coast
So my GPZ tank was rusting, enough to clog the fuel filter one day. Previously I used electrolysis which lasted about 1.5 years.
So I decided to take it to the next step. A local hot rod shop had nothing but praise to say about the KBS Cycle Tank Repair Kit. KBS was once some people from POR.
So I started with the first step which is the cleaning solution with 1:1 warm water. It says to remove all items fromt he tank ie: petcock, fuel senders, etc and use duct tape to seal openings. So I did that. Poured in the solution through the bottom fuel tank bobber hole and then sealed that hole as well. I come back to it 15 min later and the solution is leaving out the top gas cap whole through the tape. After a quick curse I flip the tank over to address the leak...
This is where it gets bad..
:'(
THE CLEANER ATE MY CLEAR COAT! Dissolved and wrinkled it into a scum similar to when you microwave milk and it has that wrinkly scum on top. Not only that, no matter what I did I could not get the tape to hold anywhere. The solution kept eating the glue. I think this kit is more for gas tanks that are like car gas tanks where they are not visible like most motorcycle tanks even though this is a motorcycle kit.
I used alcohol, marine clean, gas, windex with ammonia, painters degreaser/prep, even light scuffing on the tape surfaces with no success. I used every tape I had, including water proof out door tape meant for bonding to wet surfaces! It even ate through that glue! I plugged the petcock and vent holes with rubber hose which worked but the tape on the bigger holes the tape wouldn't last.
So the paint job is clearly ruined now and I have to unexpectedly paint the whole gpz when the project was just to clean rust inside the tank. With 3 active builds on top of that this is just more garage work that I don't need also the kit cost me 65 bucks which I wont be using anymore..
I will post pics int he next day or two. I tried to see if stage 1 cutting polish might blend the areas of non eaten clear coat but it didn't. It did help but its looking like a full repaint.
Do you think its worth contacting the company to complain? I don't remember any warnings in the instructions on the cleaning solution just on the sealer. Problem is I should have taken pics of the eaten clear coat when it happened. Might be too late now. My bike was likely repainted painted in the 80's so it must have a clear coat that isn't of todays products that was soluble to this solution. I know it wasn't lacquer.
Now what???
Well I switched to Metal rescue which is water soluble can be spilled on the tank and the sender and petcock can stay in the tank! It seemed to working well even in the first 30 min. I did do the rocks inside the tank and shake before using any of these options as well.
So I decided to take it to the next step. A local hot rod shop had nothing but praise to say about the KBS Cycle Tank Repair Kit. KBS was once some people from POR.
So I started with the first step which is the cleaning solution with 1:1 warm water. It says to remove all items fromt he tank ie: petcock, fuel senders, etc and use duct tape to seal openings. So I did that. Poured in the solution through the bottom fuel tank bobber hole and then sealed that hole as well. I come back to it 15 min later and the solution is leaving out the top gas cap whole through the tape. After a quick curse I flip the tank over to address the leak...
This is where it gets bad..
:'(
THE CLEANER ATE MY CLEAR COAT! Dissolved and wrinkled it into a scum similar to when you microwave milk and it has that wrinkly scum on top. Not only that, no matter what I did I could not get the tape to hold anywhere. The solution kept eating the glue. I think this kit is more for gas tanks that are like car gas tanks where they are not visible like most motorcycle tanks even though this is a motorcycle kit.
I used alcohol, marine clean, gas, windex with ammonia, painters degreaser/prep, even light scuffing on the tape surfaces with no success. I used every tape I had, including water proof out door tape meant for bonding to wet surfaces! It even ate through that glue! I plugged the petcock and vent holes with rubber hose which worked but the tape on the bigger holes the tape wouldn't last.
So the paint job is clearly ruined now and I have to unexpectedly paint the whole gpz when the project was just to clean rust inside the tank. With 3 active builds on top of that this is just more garage work that I don't need also the kit cost me 65 bucks which I wont be using anymore..
I will post pics int he next day or two. I tried to see if stage 1 cutting polish might blend the areas of non eaten clear coat but it didn't. It did help but its looking like a full repaint.
Do you think its worth contacting the company to complain? I don't remember any warnings in the instructions on the cleaning solution just on the sealer. Problem is I should have taken pics of the eaten clear coat when it happened. Might be too late now. My bike was likely repainted painted in the 80's so it must have a clear coat that isn't of todays products that was soluble to this solution. I know it wasn't lacquer.
Now what???
Well I switched to Metal rescue which is water soluble can be spilled on the tank and the sender and petcock can stay in the tank! It seemed to working well even in the first 30 min. I did do the rocks inside the tank and shake before using any of these options as well.